The S&P 500 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell about 1.5 percent and, at the day’s low, had retreated 3.8 percent and 3.6 percent, respectively, from all-time highs. The Nasdaq’s near 2-percent drop pulled it 7.1 percent away from its high.

All three indexes hit records between Aug. 30 and Oct. 3, despite the escalating Sino-U.S. trade dispute gnawing at confidence on corporate profit growth through most of the year.

But a recent IMF warning on global growth taking a hit from rising tariffs has hit confidence in the stock market, as has U.S. Treasury yields at more than 7-year highs, signaling a tightening of capital globally.

“It’s a risk-off environment as investors are focusing on spiking yields and taking profits off the table as they are concerned about whether the bull market is actually coming to an end,” said Ryan Nauman, market strategist at Informa Financial Intelligence in Zephyr Cove, Nevada.

The retreat on Wall Street was led by technology stocks , which dropped 2.55 percent, and the trade-sensitive industrial stocks that fell 2.0 percent.

Along with tech stocks, the FAANGs – Facebook, Amazon , Apple, Netflix and Alphabet – have led the market rally. The FAANGs, spread over three sectors, were down between 1.4 percent and 4.5 percent.

The tech sector has slid 5.5 percent so far this month, already its worst since August 2015, and at current levels has lost out to healthcare as the best-performing S&P sector in 2018.

“If investors are going to take profits then it will be from some of the bigger, high-growth names,” Nauman said.

At 13:50 a.m. ET the Dow was down 382.06 points, or 1.45 percent, at 26,048.51, the S&P 500 was down 42.64 points, or 1.48 percent, at 2,837.70 and the Nasdaq Composite was down 150.55 points, or 1.95 percent, at 7,587.47.

The small-cap Russell 2000 index, less sensitive than its larger peers to global worries such as trade and yields, was down 1 percent at 1,605.60 points, below its 200-day moving average.